Legacy Concert
Archived Instrument

Legacy Concert Guitars

For the solo singer-songwriter seeking the classic Breedlove sound with the warmth and responsiveness offered by the redwood-rosewood pairing. The Legacy Concert features these two world-class tonewoods in the ever-popular Concert body shape and the result is fullness, significant sustain, tonal balance, and ample note-for-note articulation accessible even by players with a very light touch.

Body Shape

The Breedlove Concert is the original Breedlove shape. It first appeared in 1992, and has been the best-selling Breedlove body shape ever since. Designed specifically for the fingerstylist to be well balanced, compact, and comfortable to play, it generates a wonderfully articulate range of tone with an ample low end that is never boomy, but always felt. The unique construction also allows the Concert to sing even at a full strum. If you’re a fingerstylist, or are seeking an instrument to use as vocal accompaniment, this is the shape for you. The Concert is engineered to provide exceptional sustain with a pronounced bass response, both of which can be achieved with a light touch. The graduated top works in harmony with the Breedlove Bridge Truss to provide an even response throughout the lows, mids, and highs, with sustain, and clear, concise, note-for-note projection.

Top Wood

Redwood, sequoia sempervirens, originates in the coastal mountains of Northern California in the United States. Redwood is a dark, beautiful top wood favored by fingerstyle players who appreciate clear upper-harmonic content. Sinker redwood comes from logs that were submerged in an oxygen-free environment, in the bottom of lakes or ocean waters, yielding darker, more striped, and often stiffer and lighter, wood. The tone is bold, punchy, and crisp, with rich, strong overtones. It sounds like a cross between spruce and cedar. Coloration can range from a light pinkish brown to a deep reddish brown.

Back and Side Wood

Indian rosewood, dalbergia latifolia, originates in India and southern Iran. Indian rosewood has been the standard rosewood choice for decades. It is often associated with the great dreadnoughts, and is an amazingly neutral wood that takes its personality from the player. Well-balanced lows, mids, and highs make it a natural for many styles. For the past 30 years, a vast majority of high-end steel-string and classical guitars have been made from Indian rosewood. It is famous for rich basses and a clear treble response with well-balanced lows, mids, and highs. It is a black-streaked wood with coloration that usually leans toward purplish brown, and then oxidizes to a rich brown color.

Graduated Top

Breedlove graduated tops contribute stunning balance from lows to highs. How? Graduated tops are slightly thicker on the treble side, balancing the higher energy treble frequencies with the lower energy bass frequencies traveling through the thinner bass side. The result: clearer, cleaner highs and stable, resonant lows. Because no two soundboards are exactly the same, Breedlove craftsmen evaluate each top for stiffness and density, and then graduate it accordingly. The amount of graduation is customized for each individual instrument. The top is sanded to the precise graduated thickness to achieve optimal flexibility and stiffness. This hands-on process is one of the major contributors to the Breedlove sound.

Breedlove Bridge Truss

The Breedlove Bridge Truss (BBT) reduces tension on the soundboard of the guitar, so the top wood is able to vibrate more freely, producing remarkable sustain, balance, and clarity. The BBT also allows for a thinner graduated top, thereby allowing Breedlove craftsmen to bring out the optimal sound from the top wood without sacrificing structural stability. Relieving much of the string tension from the bridge prevents “bridge belly,” ensuring top stability for decades. Guitar strings can exert up to 230 pounds of pull from the nut to the bridge. Traditional methods for preventing top bowing at the bridge usually involve heavy internal bracing and thicker tops. The BBT compensates for this pressure in an innovative way: The BBT is mounted to the bridge from the inside and is connected into the tail block of the guitar, pulling downward on the underside of the bridge to distribute some of the tension, relieving pressure on the top. The resulting tonal effect on BBT-equipped guitars is more resonance and livelier sound with enhanced overtones.

Necks

Breedlove guitar necks feature a slimmer neck profile, which enables comfortable play, even with smaller hands. Unlike traditional dovetail neck joints that require major surgery for a neck re-set, it is easy to adjust the play action and neck angle with the Breedlove bolt-on neck and single-action truss rod. The hand-rubbed, semi-gloss Breedlove neck finish contributes to ideal playability – the finish process alone takes three days, including precise finish coat applications, fine sanding, and hand buffing and rubbing.

Limited Lifetime Warranty

Breedlove players around the world can attest: With consistent, proper care, your Breedlove will give you a lifetime of service – and inspiration. New Breedlove instruments, purchased through an authorized Breedlove dealer, are warranted to be free of defects in materials and workmanship throughout the lifetime of the original owner. In addition to materials and workmanship, Breedlove offers a two-year warranty on tuning machines and electronics packages. Cases and bags are subject to a one-year warranty covering defects in structure and hardware. Full details on our limited lifetime warranty are available here.

I purchased this instrument in June of 2015. I've been playing for over 40 years. I own and have owned various acoustics over the years from inexpensive, to expensive, all crafted by the large well known guitar-makers. To keep it brief, this is my favorite. Reasons: Tone, feel and play-ability and features in their build concept. I really love the grain pattern of the redwood top on my particular model. The L.R.Baggs really shines in representing the natural acoustic tone. The sustain is amazing. The fullness and balance that resonates from this wood paring is warm without being dull or lifeless sounding. At the same time the middle and higher frequencies are clear and present without being harsh or to up front. You can hear so many rich timbres I've yet to hear in any of my previous models. The craftsmanship is of course stellar. I recently changed to Elixirs,(my preference) for my ear, even more tone and brilliance. The neck is super comfortable anywhere on the fret-board. I like to set the tru-mic to about 90 to 95 % mic/under-saddle as the ratio for the most natural amplified tone. This is a fine instrument in every category!!!

Dennis | 01.29.2016

Gorgeous guitar ... Superior quality auditory experience ... Easy to play - fluid movement up and down the fingerboard, sliding and bending strings with ease ... A surprise every time I pick it up ... Complex jazz chord changes freely accomplished - chord and single finger arpeggios facilitated even when playing lightly with a gentle, soft touch ... A joy to play and hear.